


And Many More (Just Like This)

by misscai



Category: Mass Effect
Genre: Christmas Presents, Cuddling & Snuggling, F/M, Fluff, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-31
Updated: 2016-12-31
Packaged: 2018-09-13 19:36:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,583
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9139117
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/misscai/pseuds/misscai
Summary: A holiday gift fic exchange for VorchaGirl, featuring her Zi Shepard and two hunky space marines spending Christmas morning together





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Vorcha_Girl](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Vorcha_Girl/gifts).



> Merry Christmas to @vorcha_girl, it was an honor and a privilege to get to write your Zi!!

Zi couldn’t feel her arm when she woke up. A surge of panic rose in her stomach, accompanied by the fear that her cybernetics—which, since the destruction of the Reapers, had been very much on the fritz—were finally shorting out. Her mind raced: she needed to call Miranda, or Chakwas, or anyone who could sort out her internal makeup before the limb started to rot from lack of circulation. Or perhaps it had already started to desiccate. She was afraid to look, but she had to. When she turned her head, eyes squinted in preparation for the worst, relief nearly made her giddy. Nothing was wrong internally, but externally, a bulky, tanned marine had pinned her arm to the bed. There were worse problems to have.

“Vega,” she said, wiggling her toes against his ankle. “Get off.” James just grunted, his face pressed insistently into the pillow. He didn’t even open his eyes. Zi wriggled and rolled towards him, close enough that she could bite down none-too-gently on one of his biceps.

“ _Dios,_ Lola, what the hell?” The amusement outweighed the annoyance in his voice, but Zi gave an apologetic kiss to the side of his neck.

“You’re crushing my arm,” she told him, and he shifted just long enough for her to free herself before sinking back into the mattress with a huff. Zi giggled at him. “Why so tired, soldier?” James grunted again, and Zi muffled her laughter against the bare skin of his back. They had had an evening _full_ of activity, and with James on the receiving end of both Zi’s and Kaidan’s attention, he was particularly worn out.

“Still in bed on Christmas morning?” Kaidan tutted, leaning in the doorframe with three mugs of coffee and a grin on his face. “That’s no way to celebrate a holiday. Especially one as beautiful as this.” He set two mugs on the bedside table, pausing to kiss Zi’s forehead before he strode over to the window and pulled back the drapes.

Snow coated the ground, hanging heavy on the branches of the evergreen trees that surrounded their house on the outskirts of Vancouver. The window was frosted over at the edges but it didn’t obscure the view of the flakes still drifting down from the sky. Zi sat up to get a better view, her eyes wide and so entranced by the landscape that she didn’t even notice the discomfort of her arm regaining sensation. She’d never had the chance to witness a white Christmas before, having grown up aboard space-faring vessels where the only view was that of the stars. This was something new, something almost magical in the wake of so much destruction. Zi was lucky to be able to see it, when so many others would never see it again.

Just as her wonder turned to guilt, a warm body leaned against her back, bringing her back to the present. James turned Zi’s head to face him, planting a deep, sleepy kiss on her lips. “Merry Christmas, Lola.”

“Merry Christmas,” Kaidan echoed, sitting on the bed beside the pair and kissing them both. Zi hummed contentedly in the back of her throat, considering the possibility that she could convince them to stay in bed until noon. It wouldn’t be hard, probably. They all had very little willpower when it came to resisting one another… But no, Kaidan was already dressed and James had slipped out of bed as well, so Zi’s half-hatched plan ended before it began. She stood, wrapping a blanket around her shoulders and sipping on her coffee as she leaned against the window to watch the snow fall. The driveway had already been shoveled—likely that was what Kaidan had done before Zi and James awoke, being the early riser of the trio. Zi smiled at his practicality.

“When are we exchanging gifts, gentlemen?” She turned away from the window to watch James tug on his boxers and jeans, while Kaidan used his biotics to lift an errant pillow from the floor.

“I thought we’d have breakfast first,” Kaidan suggested, smoothing the duvet down, “and then watch a Christmas movie. It’s kind of tradition in the Alenko house.”

“And if either of you think you’re escaping a snowball fight with a certain James Vega, you’re wrong,” James said with a cheeky grin, flexing his muscles in the full-body mirror before he tucked them away behind a cable knit sweater.

“You really want to compete against two Spectres, James? It might be a massacre.”

“Nah, I heard that Commander Shepard isn’t as good as the vids claim. I think I could take her on.” He winked at Zi from the mirror, bent over to tug on a pair of socks, and she rolled her eyes.

“Just go downstairs and make me some eggs, Lieutenant. Maybe I’ll forgive your insubordination.” James swaggered over to her, his thumbs tucked into his belt loops. Zi ignored the rush of warmth in the depths of her stomach.

“Maybe you can just punish me later,” he said, biting his lower lip and thrusting his hips in a way that was both sexy and ridiculous. Zi laughed, shoving him towards the bedroom door.

“We’ll go get some pancakes from the diner down the road,” Kaidan told Zi, following James out of the room. “Be right back.”

.

While James and Kaidan were gone, Zi showered and got dressed, tying her still-damp hair up in a sloppy bun and stealing a pair of Kaidan’s fuzzy socks from his secret stash under the bed. There wasn’t much to do while she waited, so she contented herself with sprawling out on the rug in front of the fire with a book.  
It had been a long time since Zi had been able to just relax like this. After the war, she’d been hospital-bound for a solid month and a half; once she’d been freed, she had rigorous physical therapy that left her exhausted and frustrated at her body’s weakened state. Now, with her strength back and no immediate threats to the galaxy’s well-being, she could spend time with her lovers and just _be._

“Ho ho ho,” James announced as he and Kaidan came through the door. Zi sat up, setting her book aside, and her jaw dropped to see both men with armfuls of presents.

“So… pancakes?” She asked, and Kaidan chuckled.

“James gift-wrapped the pancakes, too.” Zi laughed from deep in her belly, her affection for these two men warming her from the inside out. “We can open those first.”

“Yes, please.” Luckily, James had marked the pancake boxes with bright red bows, so they were able to tear away the paper and start in on breakfast. Only when their stomachs were full and their plates empty did they look at the remaining stack of gifts. James reached for the one on the top of the stack, but Kaidan shook his head.

“That one is last,” he declared.

“Aw, come on, Kaid, that’s the most fun!” James pouted, holding the box in his lap.

“Let him open it, Kaidan. Don’t break poor Vega’s heart,” Zi said with a laugh. As usual, in the face of his two lovers, Kaidan crumbled.

“Fine,” he huffed, “but everything else will be a letdown.” James crowed a ‘woo-hoo!’ and tossed the gift to Zi.

“It’s yours, Lola. Go ahead.” She took her time with removing the silver ribbon, then popped the tape with her fingernails. The paper she peeled back and carefully folded, just to annoy the boys. When she finally removed the lid of the box, Zi’s brow creased and a smile snuck onto her lips.

“A hanar plushie?” The soft pink toy looked out of place in the hand that normally held Zi’s rifle.

“Give it a squeeze,” Kaidan urged, and Zi complied, finding that there was a high-pitched squeaker tucked into the body of the hanar.

“You got me a squeaky toy?”

“Not you.” James wriggled in his spot on the floor, a grin threatening to split his cheeks as he heard the jingle of Zi’s actual present. A little white puppy came bounding out from the laundry room, the bells on its collar chiming happily as it launched itself into Zi’s lap, pawing at the toy in her hand. “It’s for her.”

“Oh my God. Oh my God!” Zi snuggled the puppy close to her chest, giggling as a little pink tongue licked at her cheeks. Kaidan and James looked on with love.

“She was at the shelter,” Kaidan explained. “The last of her litter. Nobody wanted her because of her eye.” Zi held the puppy at arms’ length, only then noticing that one of her irises was blue, while the other was a deep brown.

“I love her eye,” Zi said with a shrug. “She’s special. What’s her name?”

“The shelter staff just called her ‘little girl.’ But Kaidan and I were thinking about Maia. If you like that.” James looked a little nervous. “Or you can change it.”

“Maia is perfect.” Zi looked between Kaidan and James and the puppy, all of them circled together on the carpet and shrouded by warmth and love. Tears pricked at her eyes. This was something she never thought she’d have. Now that she had it, she could barely contain herself. “I love you both. So much.”

“Merry Christmas, Zi,” Kaidan said with a tender smile, leaning forward to wrap both her and James in an embrace. “And many more, just like this. Together.”


End file.
